New York Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over Copyright Infringement

The lawsuit, centered on the use of copyrighted articles in training AI models, could have far-reaching implications for the generative AI industry.

The New York Times has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, alleging that the tech firms illegally used 'millions' of copyrighted Times articles to help develop the AI models behind tools such as ChatGPT and Bing.
The lawsuit could have significant implications for the booming generative AI industry, as it raises questions about copyright infringement and the concept of 'fair use'.
The Times argues that its rights were infringed when its articles were 'scraped' for inclusion in the giant data sets that AI models were trained on, and also cites examples where the AI models reproduced large passages of text identical to that in Times articles.
OpenAI and Microsoft are likely to argue that the training of AI models qualifies as a fair use of copyrighted materials, a defense that has been successful in past cases such as Google Books.
The outcome of the case could have major consequences for the news industry and could potentially lead to tech firms paying for licenses to use copyrighted content in training AI models.